14 miles

the longest I've run to date and it didn't feel like death. sure, my legs and hips were sore, but other than that...i felt amazing!

I had my 14 scheduled for late Sunday afternoon, I had 3 hours blocked for it, but after a desperate plee from my mother to attend a dinner with her at 6:30, I pushed my run up an hour and wow...I was beyond scatter-brained going into the run. My thoughts were preoccupied with things related to Train with Purpose as well as hoping that I could complete the run on-time so that we wouldn't be too late to dinner (we were btw).

I headed over to the Metro Park because a) I was running alone and didn't want to think about where to run, dodging cars etc. and b) wanted to be close to restrooms in case Flat Top would come back and haunt me!

I started out at an easy pace... Mile 1: 13:07, Mile 2: 12:36

At Mile 3: 13:06, I began to worry. I knew I would run through the 1st park but I wasn't expecting to run through so much of the 2nd Park yet alone hit the 3rd Park (the parks are all adjoined by paved paths) but seeing where I was mileage wise, I knew I still had a lot of pavement in front of me.

Running 3 - 6, was pretty freaky. I don't want to say the path is remote but it sorta is and although people were biking back and forth, I still sorta wished that I had a can of mace, and a knife to keep me company! I normally start fueling at mile 4, but since I had had a big breakfast and carbo-loaded for most of the weekend...I passed. Looking back, I wish I would have started fueling at 4.

Mile 4: 13:16
Mile 5: 12:59
Mile 6: 12:40

It's around 6 that I realize I will reach the end of the 3rd park and part of me is thrilled because wow... I just ran the entire route whereas most people just bike it! Plus there was a bathroom and a cooled water fountain! I had emptied my water bottle around 5.5.

Quick picture and some Skittles and I was back on my way!

Mile 7: 12:48
Mile 8: 12:31
Mile 9: 12:27
Mile 10: 13:02
Mile 11: 12:38

I decided to try a gel at mile 7, just to see if it a) tasted good and b) would give me any issues. thankfully it tasted delicious and didn't aggravate my stomach. I've decided I'm going to try 2 on this upcoming weeks run.

These miles were quite boring. At mile 10 I received a notice that my Garmin's batteries were low, so I switched my RunKeeper on just in case. As I'm doing that, I receive a message from my Iphone that it's on 20% battery life. awesome! Mile 11 my phone officially craps out which means I am praying to god my Garmin doesn't die. Running music-less wasn't half bad but constantly checking my Garmin was annoying. I really wanted to make sure that I caught a glimpse of it before it crapped out.

I finish the run with
Mile 12: 12:47
Mile 13: 12:55
Mile 14: 9:35

Total Time: 2:56:35

YAY!!! I still have enough umph in me that I was able to sprint the last mile.. it gives me hope that I can run the Half at my goal time.

I was ready to try my first ice bath but given the time constraints, I ice showered instead. It definitely helped with the recovery of my legs, but my hips were sore for two days after. It was the weirdest and painful thing ever. Thankfully after a strength workout the soreness seemed to disappear.

I'm ready for the Detroit Freep only15 days away!!!! whooot whooot!!!

Have a great weekend!!

w(h)ine

I'm a bit overwhelmed...I've been on the go since last Thursday.

Some appointments have been my own, others not. I feel exhausted and stressed. Not the ideal combination for a stress eater.

I had plans last night, I backed out of them since I'll be out again tonight. The glorious 5 hours barely covered dinner, school and my workout.

I've already missed my workout today.

The 14 mile recap will have to wait till tomorrow...hopefully.

On the plus side, I made my lunches.

HELP! I need more time!

Firsts

1. Longest distance evah!!!

2. Hammer gel gu in espresso...omg, it was delish and i didn't have any GI issues! have you tried this flavor?

3. New Tommie Copper sleeves.. do you prefer compression sleeves or socks?

I'll be back tomorrow with a full recap!

Goals and Priorities

sometimes it just hits you, and it hit me sometime this past week... I want to not only PR, but I want to majorly PR at this Half.

i feel ueber-confident about my training and where i am at and despite weight-loss still being an issue, my PRing this race trumps what the scale says.
.
This past year has really shown me what makes me happy, and you know what... it hasn't been because I hit goal weight. Remember I gained 20lbs from my lowest last April. (But thankfully have lost 9.5 lbs since June!)

I have a little over 3 weeks left where my purpose, and goals are focused on the Half. Then I can focus on all that other stuff.

It's weird... but I feel like I've had somewhat of a breakthrough in regards to how I view myself and my body. It's just not the most important thing.

conundrum

you've heard me state before that i love the work i do...

i'm beginning to see a possible future doing this...but I'm not working full-time yet, which means i still need to continue either going to school or find another part-time job. I'm not sure if/when I would even be offered a full-time position, but it has me thinking..do I switch my educational goals?!

Go for a Masters in Business Administration instead of a second Bachelors in Dietetics?

I won't be able to apply to the Dietetics program until next Fall, which means if I get in (only 18 applicants are accepted per year) I wouldn't even be attending until the following Fall. If I were to get into an MBA next Fall, I would be 1 year closer to...something?!

I don't even know how important post-graduate degrees are...I know so many people with Masters and PhD's are out of work... will I be another over-qualified unemployed person?

Thoughts?

Anywhoo...could I pretty, pretty please get a like on my business, Train with Purpose, facebook page?
Pretty please and thanks!

1st Day of School

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

I'm hoping it stays dry today... yesterday was a very Fall day with lots, and lots of rain. Perfect for the first day of school...

The only thing missing was a schultuete!

This is a German tradition where on the 1st day of school, 1st graders receive this paper cones filled with candies, school supplies and other little trinkets to help ease the stress of the 1st day.

Speaking of Fall.. my tablescape for September...

Isn't the owl jar just the cutest?! For $4 I couldn't say no, although Home Goods may slowly be the death of me!

We are in the midst of mocking up our banquette, which is why I am lugging this heavy piece of wood around the perimeter so that I can figure out whether or not I like it...

yes, that's blue painters tape under the cabinets!

 a tad late considering I refuse to buy more of the brown chairs!

I'm also now realizing that our light fixture won't be centered over the table. I'm trying not to let it bother me! It just makes finding a rectanglular mirror for the large wall prove more difficult...

Anyone else obsessed with Home Goods?
Found any recent awesome decorations?

8 - miles

I am NOT a morning runner.

My Saturday's are spent sleeping in, and if I can do it on Sunday's too, I will. I would go out on a limb and say that my best running probably takes place after 4 PM.

So after post-poning this 8 mile run all weekend, I finally headed out the door yesterday afternoon at 4.

The plan called for track repeats, but since the local HS is under renovation, i would have to drive a bit to get to one and honestly, that isn't my idea of fun so instead I thought I'd run a higher (lower since I have 14 scheduled next weekend) mileage and throw in some mile sprints.

My first two miles were faster than I would have wished, ranging somewhere between 11:30-12:45 but after having taken 2 days off, my legs felt refreshed. Note: take 2 days off pre-Half.

My first mile sprint took me 9:12, my recovery mile jog was probably still in the high 12's.
My second mile sprint was in 8:54, my recovery mile job is now in the 13's (ideally where i try to train).
My final sprint was in 8:36, my recovery sprint is still in the 13's.

I have to say, I haven't felt this amazing in forever. I'm not gonna lie and say those mile sprints flew by...no they didn't but overall these 8 miles flew by, and I felt like I still hadn't some energy in the tank.

Considering my last post talked about me being over training, as in I don't want to train anymore, this run really set me up mentally, and I hope I can carry it with me till I start my taper.

How was your running?

Friday Randomness

I'm on 5 hrs of bad sleep because I couldn't put this book down.

I hope the rest of the trilogy doesn't get boring... I read the Uglies series and haven't been able to finish the 3rd book yet!

The scale has dropped 3.5 lbs since Wednesday... weight loss is typically a sign of over-training (when your not trying to lose weight!)

I'm the closest I've been to the 150's since my last half...truth: I'll be holding on to the 150's much tighter than I did back in February.

until my next half... I'm sort of over training for it. I just want to run it, now. I want to focus on speed. For now, I'm quite happy with running a Half...no Full is on the schedule yet!

Glad it's Friday even though the craziness of Girls on the Run won't be over till mid-week next week, and we'll be assembling these two pieces.

What do you have planned?

Giving Back

Thanks to Walgreens for sponsoring my writing. Help Walgreens help others! Visit their Facebook page here to learn about their charitable partners and decide which cause Walgreens will donate to with a quick vote.

I hate to admit that volunteering, service work and any sort of giving back is foreign to me. I’m sure the Catholic HS I attended would cringe too, especially since they didn’t enforce the whole  “you need to volunteer 18 hours or you won’t graduate” requirement very well. I may or may not have fibbed.

It probably wasn’t until 3, or maybe even 4 years ago, that when the economy took a nosedive that I started realizing how good I had it. How good the bf and I both had it. His place of employment has been pretty big on giving back. They have charity jean day on Friday’s and at Christmas time they adopt families in need. It broke my heart when I saw the items listed that the families requested. It rarely was anything fun, and usually just the basic necessities like shoes.

My own volunteer work didn’t begin until I was absolutely miserable at my job and needed a positive outlet. I had recently heard of Girls on the Run and reached out the nearest council, within 2 months I was sitting on their 5K planning committee. 6 months later I had the ability to Coach a Team, by far the most stressful, exciting and

The thing is this, regardless of how stressed or unhappy or preoccupied I was, whenever I came back from having Coached, I always felt amazing. I had just spent an hour giving a group of girls a smile, a hug, and some positive attention.

The thing about giving back is that you don't have to volunteer your time, donations are just as important to non-profits as volunteers. I ask that you please head over to Walgreen's facebook page and help them, give to charitable partners like Feeding America, American Diabetes Association, AmeriCares, the National Urban League, League of Latin American Citizens

 

Don't forget to help Walgreens help others! Visit their Facebook page here to learn about their charitable partners and decide which cause Walgreens will donate to with a quick vote. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do."

The time I almost passed out aka the 17 day diet

So, I was on the fence about whether or not to start this diet two weeks, but after weeks of being stalled at the same weight, I decided it was time to change something up.

Lemme state that this diet is like the South Beach Diet on steroids. It's intense for reals.


I lasted a day and half before I was so weak and barfy, I succumbed and ate fries with dinner.


The whole weak feeling is my own fault, I didn't properly prepare and had only consumed maybe 800 calories by 5pm and was overall just feeling dis-illusioned and spacey.

Lesson 1: Be Prepared!
Seriously, I know having food prepped and waiting in the fridge is one of the keys to any weight-loss success but since you can't have any carbs, only 5 fruits before 2, and only 3 forms of poultry. You have got to be prepared. I was not.

Lesson 2: There is a reason why you are only supposed to work out 17 mins a day
I'm in the final weeks of my Half-Marathon training, is this really the ideal time to be trying to lose weight? Surprisingly a lot of hits have been coming in, in response to this post... weightloss & half marathon training

There are a few sections he is vague on, in particular the milk thing, or even soy replacement products but after some googling i've decided it's ok if i use hazelnut milk for my coffee.

I've gotten on board with the whole lemon water first thing in the AM and actually like it. What I haven't gotten on board with yet is the whole green tea thing. I'm not a tea drinker and this may just kill me.

Anyways, I haven't reattempted it since 2 weeks, although those two days did help me drop 2 lbs, both of which I've refound. =)

I've contemplated going straight into Cycle 2, where you basically alternate carb days with non-carb days, but I am determined to make it through at least 1 week of Cycle 1, even if it kills me... =)

anyone else try it yet?


the books are never in the book stores so I'm sure there are plenty of followers out there!

Jay Oh Bee

i haven't talked much about my new job, and since i just passed my 2nd month anniversary, i thought it was about high time!

Source

it's true...and i believe i have come off as annoying to some, but i worked in a job that i hated, was verbally abused and overall under-appreciated. i was miserable the last two years.

the work is refreshing and exhilarating and I'm being pushed to boundaries and asked to grow...I can't even put into words how fulfilling this has been. don't get me wrong, i still deal with office politics, which is probably worse now that there are only 4-5 people in the office compared to 100+, and there are still rules and regulations to follow but when I am talking about the actual work that I do. i love it, it makes me feel alive, i think about how i can make things better for my Coaches, what i wish i had when i volunteered for them last year and was so miserable (i never blogged about it because the whole experience really brought me down. funny that i now work for them!).

so, what do i do? I'm a Program Coordinator and am responsible for a specific area (4 cities) and executing the program successfully in this area. Everything from acquiring new site locations, recruiting more girls, new Coaches and overall just building an amazing experience for our volunteers.

My personal goal, is to really focus on volunteer appreciation. The heart and "sole" of the this program revolves around volunteers and given my own personal experience last Spring, i want to make sure they feel inspired, appreciated and overall excited about the experience!

So tell me... what has made a great volunteer experience? a bad  volunteer experience? 
What tokens of appreciation do you prefer?

new digs

so...whatcha think of my new look!?

isn't it amazing?! it's been in the works forever... Bailey and I had quite the technical difficulties along the way so I am so glad to be finally unveiling this new design!

don't get me wrong..i loved my last header but I just felt it was time for me to move onto something new...anywhoo, if things are still a little wonky, please forgive it...we are still working out the kinks!

I saw this at Marshall's today and was tempted to purchase but figured a picture would do!

 anywhoo...how was your weekend?

mine was bueno..seriously...these weekends are going by faster and faster! is it because's it's Fall or maybe because I'm in the midst fo what i like to call "rush" week for GOTR?! last week was super busy and this week is going to be even busier, but i am determined to not be slacking off in the working out department anymore!

Ok, had the pasta been shaped in HK's, I would have totally bought this!!

so my blog is getting changed and the house is slowly coming together and things are good.

Life is good. The best it's ever been, really, so before I bore you with even more Hello Kitty pics..

I hope you guys have a great week!

12 miles

I know I haven't talked much about my half training, truth is, there isn't a whole lot to talk about that I haven't already mentioned.

1. I'm following Galloway's method.
2. I'm running 3 times a week
1. Tuesday: 3 miles (recently bumped it up to 4)
2. Thursday: 5 miles 
3. Sunday: long run

I hit my first double digit run 2 weeks ago at the Crim and this was actually the longest distance I ran while training for the Disney Princess Half last Spring.


If I were to give a tip to newbie Half Trainers, it would be...run more! Start training earlier so that you can work in a 12 miler before your actual race. I think mentally it really makes a difference. Thoughts from others?

Normally I would do my long distance on Sunday but I skipped last weeks and thought I'd help a friend out who was running her first 18 miler, so when she cruised up into my driveway at 6:30 AM, we were ready to rock-n-roll.

ahhh yes, almost an hour later and only 2.5 miles more I stumbled into the house at 9:30.

i felt good though, better than I did post Crim and now I'm wearing my compression socks, which I typically wear during my run and am trying to recoup before I head into work.

fueled with Skittles again and the only difference I notice between candy and actual running fuel is that i don't have the dry mouth I normally do if I were take jelly beans or chomps. 1 bag = 12 miles = 250 cals.


Anyone else exclusively fuel with candy?

Happy Friday peeps!

now i can shut up about it...

Happy Monday Tuesday friends!!

How you doin?

My weekend was fabulous...seriously...very relaxing..exactly what I needed!

Work wise things are going to be super intense these next two weeks as we try to get all the girls registered before the season starts on the 19th. Exactly in time for when my Chem class starts!

Despite all the hecticness, I do love Fall and the promise that it brings for new beginnings. Granted, I am NOT ready for the cooler temps (I swear, summer just began, right?!) but I'm quite optimistic about what this Fall holds for me.

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably have been listening to my ramblings for the past 2 weeks about whether or not I purchase the Garmin.

Truth is, between my iPhone battery dying, the RunKeeper app acting loco, me  trying to improve my time, I've just been itching to upgrade.

If there is one thing I've learned by the insane amount of home improvements we've made over the years, is that with the proper tools, you really can finish the job faster/smoother/etc.

and with everything else, I want to train more efficiently, successfully, etc. and it only made sense I get the Garmin.

I love it already..I've only run with it once but already, I feel positive about making the right choice. I need to play around with my settings and my screen shots because my already deteriorating eye sight is going to get worse if I have to squint to see my HR.

Anywhoo...that's whats new with me...what's new with you?

What purchase were you glad you made after the fact?

and then it was over...

it's been a little under 2 months since I found out I was a finalist in becoming the next columnist at digitalrunning, and yesterday at noon it was over.

just like that...this past week was intense...blogging, tweeting, facebooking, rallying all of you, and I'm amazed by how many votes I was able to acquire with the help from everyone.

it's humbling.

very humbling to see how many people are rooting for me to go follow my dreams.


THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART for seeing me through these past 6 weeks and helping me become a finalist.

Godiva Coffee

Have you voted for me to become the next digitalrunning columnist? Today is the last day to do so!!! Thank you!!


As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Godiva Coffee for free however all opinions stated are my own.


I have to admit I was beyond thrilled when I saw this opportunity pop into my inbox. 

I love coffee, I think I've grown to love it even more since I switched jobs. I love it so much, I've begun to drink decaf in the evenings sometimes. I guess I had to sacrifice my love of diet soda  for coffee.

To say I was ecstatic when I saw that one of my bags was Hazelnut Creme, would be an understatement...I love, love, love anything hazelnut flavored and you guys know I've gone to quite the extremes to find a decent hazelnut creamer substitute. 

I also love ice(cream) coffee, so what a awesome opportunity to put Godiva's Chocolate Truffle to the test. 

Add cold coffee, and a container of ice cream...although let me state this little tub of Java Chip Frappucino  was clearly not enough. Next time I need a pint! 

Blend and serve!

Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Holiday weekend!

Running Tips I Now Follow

There are still a few days left to vote for me becoming the next digitalrunning columnist...pretty, pretty please head on over and "Like" me!

I'm thankful I was able to take the RRCA certification when I did. I heard a lot of things, some which I wasn't ready to fully admit and other's I was ready to jump on to. So here are a few changes I've made in my training.

1. The body likes white carbs before a run/race
It's broken down faster so that it can be utilized faster. Whole grains take 24 hrs to be digested and ready for use.

2. Juice is a great fuel pre-run/race
Probably because of all the sugar content. Our instructors mentioned cranberry but I've been drinking 6-8oz of any juice I have at home pre-run/workout.

3. Maybe, just maybe I have been working out too hard.
I don't believe I'm addicted to exercise but once again, I want to do it all. Run and Lift, except well... can one do both successfully? I used to do 2 - 2 a days but have scaled that back to only one. On the day where I only run 3 miles. That and trying to change my fueling has left me with more energy again.

4. Train slow, race hard
I didn't want to believe this method but I've been surprisingly speedy lately during my runs that matter. I've taken 2 minutes off of my pace I used to run and make sure I take walking breaks every 10 minutes or so.


Any words of wisdom you want to share that you've learned from your training?